Previous UPR of the Netherlands under earlier cycles 5. The Netherlands was last reviewed during the 27th session of the UPR in 2017. During the third cycle, the Netherlands received two recommendations pertaining to counterterrorism measures more broadly, which were both noted by the State. It received a recommendation from Canada to “[r]eview any adopted or proposed counter-terrorism legislation, policies or programmes to provide adequate safeguards against human rights violations and minimize any possible stigmatizing effect such measures might have on certain segments of the population.” 6 Furthermore, the Netherlands received a recommendation from Malaysia to “[r]eview counter-terrorism measures that target individuals and groups based on race, ethnicity and religion, including Muslims and Muslim communities, and ensure that such measures do not associate or contribute to associating terrorism with any religion, race, culture, ethnic group or nationality”.7 The Netherlands’ international obligations 6. The Netherlands has ratified nearly all core international and regional human rights treaties. These include: • ICCPR, 8 Article 24(3), which states that every child has the right to acquire a nationality; • CRC, 9 Article 7, which contains the same right, and emphasises that States Parties must ensure that no child is stateless; • CERD,10 Article 5(d)(iii), which guarantees the right to a nationality to everyone, regardless of race, colour, or national or ethnic origin; • CEDAW, 11 Article 9, which grants women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality, as well as with respect to the nationality of their children. 7. The Netherlands is also a party to the Convention Against Torture (CAT), the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the European Convention on Nationality (ECN). The Netherlands has ratified the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Furthermore, the right to a nationality and prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of nationality is included in Article 15 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR). Article 9 of the 1961 Convention12 “was designed to give effect to Article 15 of the UDHR and is complemented by provisions in, among others, CERD, CEDAW and CRPD”. 13 These other human rights treaties explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of status, unlike the 1961 Convention. 6 UN Human Rights Council, ‘Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Netherlands’ (18 July 2017) A/HRC/36/15, para. 131.113, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/36/15. 7 ibid, para. 131.114. 8 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). 9 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). 10 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). 11 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). 12 Art. 9 of the 1961 Convention reads as follows: “A Contracting State may not deprive any person or group of persons of their nationality on racial, ethnic, religious or political grounds.” 13 UNHCR, ‘Summary Conclusions: Expert Meeting on Interpreting the 1961 Statelessness Convention and Avoiding Statelessness resulting from Loss and Deprivation of Nationality’ (2013) para. 70, https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/533a754b4.pdf. 2